January 17th - Facing the Future: Incarnational Spirituality and the Way Forward
This class provides an introduction to an incarnational spirituality and the educational work of the Lorian Association. What is an incarnational spirituality and why is it relevant to you?
We live in challenging and changing times that in many ways are unprecedented in human history. Environmental degradation, climate change, the loss of fossil fuels and other invaluable resources, and the increasing vulnerability to disruption of our complex technological society are concrete problems rising from how we relate to the physical world around us, to each other, and to ourselves. They are physical, incarnate problems.
Yet the solutions to them are not entirely physical. In addition to their material causes, these challenges come from attitudes and beliefs we hold, some of them very ancient and rooted in religious and spiritual ways of thinking. To meet the needs of our time, we need to reexamine and in many cases change these beliefs and attitudes. We must develop a deeper and more holistic form of spirituality in order to do so. We need spiritual perspectives that connect us to the world more skillfully, intimately and collaboratively. In effect we need a spirituality that helps us incarnate more fully to meet the incarnate problems of the planet.
For many people, spirituality is understood as something otherworldly and mystical, oriented to transcendental and transpersonal realms and experiences; in some cases, the physical world—and our physical selves—have even been seen as obstructions to discovering and expressing our “true” natures which were deemed to be not of this earth. While there is much of value to be found in transpersonal, mystical and transcendental perspectives, the challenge of our time is to be a harmonious and collaborative part of the earth. We need to be more present to the physical world, not less. We need in effect to be more skillfully incarnated.
Incarnation is more than simply being on earth in a body. It is a generative partnership between ourselves and our world. This partnership is a creative process that connects and engages with the environment, fosters the unfolding of potentials within ourselves and the world, and promotes wholeness. It holds the promises of blessing us as individuals in our personal lives and blessing the world around us.
Incarnational spirituality is a way of developing this partnership. This six-week online class introduces you to how it does so and what it means to you in these challenging times as we face a future unprecedented in human history. It is the place to start your spiritual and educational journey with Lorian.
Recommended reading for this class are Facing the Future by David Spangler and The Gathering Light: An Exploration of the Incarnational Way by Jeremy Berg. Both of these books are available from the Lorian website bookstore.
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Cost is $195